The South Warren Regional Police Department Commission toured Pohatcong's new facilities, including police quarters to be shared with Lopatcong if a merger is finalized.

GREENWICH — Greenwich Township officials have decided against pursuing the idea of merging their police force with others in southern Warren County.

On Thursday, June 20, all of the committeemen and Mayor Dan Perez voted not to participate in the South Warren Regional Police Department Commission, which is exploring the possibility of shared services for Lopatcong and Pohatcong police departments. Committeewoman Tanya Segal abstained, according to The Express-Times.

"We were never in it, this was only an exploratory process," said Committeeman Joseph Tauriello, who made the motion to opt out of the police commission. "The vote was to pull out of being a part of discussion."

Perez characterized the township's involvement to this point as an "information only agenda."

"I wanted to participate, wanted to see if it would work, but now it's at a point where we either had to participate or get out," he said.

Tauriello, who has served the township for two years, said Perez was to report back specific details on the commission and how Greenwich would become involved.

"Dan Perez provided zero info, but pushed for a vote to join the commission," Tauriello said.

Tauriello believes that the commission is not a shared service and called it "a creation of a new government entity."

"The most important point of this is that this is making government larger, not smaller," he said, "and turning over almost a third of the Greenwich budget to appointed officials who are not accountable to Greenwich residents."

According to Perez, residents are split on the issue, and he voted with the council "just to move on."

"There are a lot of people in town who believe in shared services if it's beneficial to Greenwich," he said. "I think that, and this is my opinion, Greenwich Township should have participated just to see where this would have taken us. There was nothing to lose."

Tauriello said that he has received concerns from residents about the lack of transparency and called the process "fundamentally flawed."

"It's a whole big to-do over nothing," said Perez. "I think it was a mistake. There was nothing that binded us to be involved, and we could have pulled out at any time."

Perez said he is considering attending future commission meetings as a private citizen.

"He is certainly free to attend any meeting he wishes, but as an elected official, he has already voted no," Tauriello said. "As far as Township Committee is concerned, we have already spoken through vote."

The next police commission meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 2, at the Pohatcong municipal building at 9 a.m.